National Womens Day

To celebrate International Women’s Day and National Careers Week, Darwen Aldridge Community Academy organised a special event to celebrate working women and encourage the next generation of business women.
Five successful business women attended the event to pass on motivational messages and raise ambition among the students. The women in attendance included Rowena Sellens, Lucite International; Lory Barreau, Business Vector Ltd; Amanda Meachin, Community and Business Partners; Carole Garrett, Profitoptimiser Ltd and Amanda Jackson, Tigerfish PR.

Forty girls took part in the event, which involved a Dine and Debate; students discussed a range of topics with one of the business women over lunch. This was followed by presentations from each business woman who told the story of their career path. The students were able to hear about careers in a range of industries as well as get some top tips on how being entrepreneurial enables you to be successful in life.

Amanda Meachin, Chief Executive of Community and Business Partners said, “The event was a great success. I wanted to see if I could help these young girls to achieve the best they can. When I had a baby at the age of 14, back in 1980, everyone in authority or a position of influence around me for the following four years simply told me that I was “good for nothing”. And unfortunately, I believed them. By taking part in DACA’s International Women’s event, I wanted to make sure that every single girl in that room was told that they could achieve anything with hard work. I hope I helped a little to do that on Friday!”

The students heard about the different ways to achieve success and the importance of working hard and having pride in everything they do. Katherine Taylor, Darwen Creates Project Manager said “I would like to say a big thank you on behalf of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy to all the business women that took part in the event. It is fantastic to have the support of local businesses and to highlight the careers available to young people in Darwen.”